Staining/Finishing

[Neal G]

Good Afternoon

A year in and enjoying my change of career.

Question
I’ve just stained a lovely piece of bare oak,really love the finish/colour,but do I need to put a clear finishing coat on ?

Any feedback greatly appreciated

Neal

[Justintime]

I always do a wax coat last (usually black bison neutral wax), it gives it some protection and a finished look. Depends if you've used a spirit stain or waterbased. If spirit based you could use one of the polyvine waterbased finishes after, for a dead flat matt finish or there's a more gloss one that imitates wax. I'm pretty sure that the polyvine will drag a water based stain around unless you shellac over it first!

[Neal G]

Thanks very much I’m going to try the black bison neutral wax
Neal

[vintage frames]

i second everything Justintime said.

If it was a water-based stain then you would need to have sealed it as the stain would come off even if handled with damp fingers. A quick sealant is to wet a cotton pad with a little shellac and rub it over the wood. It will dry in a couple of minutes.
Then you can rub on some wax.

Here's a tip -
Rub or brush on a generous layer of wax first.
Now use a dry cotton cloth to remove as much of the wax as you can!
Pull it in one direction along the grain until you have a matt finish.

After several hours do the same again and leave the wax to dry overnight.
Now use the cotton cloth to buff up to a high shine.
Use 0000 wire wool to gently dull it back according to taste.

[Neal G]

Great advise
Thanks very much

[prospero]

Quick Tip: Don't use steel wool on Oak (or Ash) or you can get little black spots were steel fragments
lodge in the pores and react.

[vintage frames]

Wise advice from Prospero.
The tanins in oak and ash will react with the wire wool to create a dark staining effect.
And of course my advice was to dull back the wax shine with 0000 wire wool.

But I did say gently dull back the shine.
Don't lay into it and you should be fine.

[Justintime]

I use green scouring pads for rubbing back Oak, but start light and add pressure if you need to remove some sheen, otherwise you can end up with green bits in the grain and then a rub over with a cloth.

[Neal G]

Thanks Everyone
Enjoy your Sunday !
Neal